


Tattoos

by Xiolette (Writing_Doodle)



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Character Study, Gen, T rating for Torture :3c, Tattoos, roxas asked a question. axel is traumatized but tries to answer anyway., this is just that very specific type of kh fic genre that's just
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-22
Updated: 2019-09-22
Packaged: 2020-10-26 05:24:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,158
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20736920
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Writing_Doodle/pseuds/Xiolette
Summary: “Hey, Axel?”“Yeah?” Axel swallowed his bite of ice-cream and glanced over at Roxas.“What are those marks on your face?” he asked, so innocently. No… innocent wasn’t the right word. He asked it as if he didn’t realize the invasiveness of the question. He very likely didn’t.Axel felt his grip on his ice-cream tighten, threatening to snap the wooden stick in half. He took a quiet breath and forced his hands to relax. “They’re, uh,” he wondered how much he could lie and get away with it. He was becoming aware of the very alarming fact that Roxas was much more perceptive than he gave him credit for. “They’re just tattoos,” he settled.





	Tattoos

**Author's Note:**

> more fic requests from tumblr. today's prompt was "Axel's tattoos and what he thinks of them."
> 
> fuck kh3 my headcanons are My Own.

“Hey, Axel?” 

“Yeah?” Axel swallowed his bite of ice-cream and glanced over at Roxas. 

“What are those marks on your face?” he asked, so innocently. No… innocent wasn’t the right word. He asked it as if he didn’t realize the invasiveness of the question. He very likely didn’t. 

Axel felt his grip on his ice-cream tighten, threatening to snap the wooden stick in half. He took a quiet breath and forced his hands to relax. “They’re, uh,” he wondered how much he could lie and get away with it. He was becoming aware of the very alarming fact that Roxas was much more perceptive than he gave him credit for. “They’re just tattoos,” he settled. 

Roxas tilted his head. “Tattoos?” 

“Yeah,” Axel shrugged, nonchalant. He took another bite of ice-cream and continued with his mouth full. “You know what those are, right?” 

Roxas stared at him. 

“Dumb question, of course you don’t,” Axel sighed, not unaffectionately. He ruffled Roxas’ hair, just to annoy the kid. “Tattoos are, uh…” he thought of a way to make them sound more appealing than they actually are. “They’re like… paintings. That people get put on their skin. There are different methods of getting them, but most people go to a professional and they…” he trailed off, still trying to think of a good way of explaining it to a kid who barely had the mental capacity of a ten-year-old. 

He looked back at Roxas and the blank stare was enough to make Axel say fuck it. 

“The artist has a tool called a tattoo gun. It’s basically a needle loaded with ink. They put a temporary design somewhere on the person’s skin,” Axel set his ice cream to the side, took Roxas’s arm, and traced a vague design. “Then, they go over it with the tattoo gun. The needle goes into the skin and leaves the ink underneath.” He jabbed Roxas’ arm multiple times to get the point across. “And that’s that. The skin heals over and the ink is left underneath.” 

Roxas pulled his arm away and rubbed it, frowning. “Does it hurt?”

Axel absently rubbed one of his cheeks to chase away the phantom burn, “Depends on where you get it and the person’s pain tolerance.” He picked up his ice-cream and focused on eating it instead of looking at Roxas. “But yeah, generally, it hurts.” 

“Then why do people get them?” Roxas sounded almost disgusted at the idea of someone willingly hurting themselves for whatever reason. Axel could easily imagine the scrunched up face he usually made when thinking about something that didn’t make sense to him. It was almost cute. 

Axel smiled and kept his eyes trained on the horizon or on the town or anywhere else that wasn’t the kid next to him. “People get them because they look cool. Or because they mean something. Or because it’s apart of a culture. Some people think it’s worth it to go through a few hours of pain so they can have a mark for a lifetime.” 

“It doesn’t go away?” Roxas’ voice rose in shock and Axel had to look over to see his face. 

His eyes were wide and his mouth was open. He leaned in towards Axel and looked at him with a new degree of disbelief. Axel couldn’t keep himself from laughing. Once it started, it didn’t want to end. Soon, he was doubled over and wheezing, almost hysterical. His stomach hurt and he wondered if he would be crying if he had the capacity to. He caught his breath and just held onto himself. 

Roxas touched his shoulder cautiously. “Are you okay?” he asked, fear creeping somewhere in the back of his voice. 

Axel waved him off, “Yeah, yeah. I’m… I’m fine, just.” He straightened his back and shook his head, forcing the aftershocks away. He forced himself to smile and said, “You should’ve seen your face.” 

The concern on Roxas’ face melted into annoyance. He crossed his arms and spit, “I was worried, asshole.” 

Axel rolled his eyes and punched his shoulder, “You know you can’t worry.” He paused, realizing he never did answer the question that sent him into hysterics. “No,” he said, voice more serious than he wanted it to be. “They don’t go away.” 

Roxas peered at Axel’s face, frowning. “Why’d you get yours?” 

Axel should’ve expected the conversation to come around to this, but he still couldn’t help his breath hitching. His face fell into something dangerously close to haunted. 

He still remembered the hands digging into his shoulders, forcing him to the ground. He remembered the Superior looming over him with a smile on his face that would’ve been cruel if it wasn’t so empty. Isa -- Saix was on the other side of the room, held still by Xaldin. He struggled and bared his teeth and shouted, but Axel couldn’t remember anything he said for the life of him. 

Someone tugged back his hair, forcing him to look up as the Superior knelt in front of him. Cold hands dug into his cheeks, thumbs pressed just underneath his eyes. He spat at the Superior’s face, but the cruel-empty smile just sharpened and the grip on his hair tightened.

“You have too much fight for it to go to waste,” the Superior said.

And Axel’s cheeks began to burn. 

It was worse than needles or heat or any other branding that Axel could think of. He felt something carve and eat away into his very essence. He tried to pull away, but he couldn’t fight. He couldn’t break from the iron grip in his hair, on his shoulders, on his face. All he could do was snarl and glare and try to look defiant despite the tears running down his face. 

The fight left Axel when the Superior released his face. His head dropped and, when the other hands released him, so did his body. He laid on the floor, feeling utterly boneless. He didn’t even have the strength to curl himself into a ball or protect himself from anything further. Saix ran and dropped next to him, running his hand through his hair, shaking his shoulders, trying to get him to respond in some way. He couldn’t move. Saix was yelling, but all Axel could hear was the deep drone of the Superior’s voice sinking deep into his bones. 

“A fitting mark for our new Assassin.” 

“Axel?”

Roxas’ voice brought Axel back to the present. 

He shook himself out of the memory and forced himself to relax. He shrugged and gave Roxas his best approximation of a self-deprecating grin. “I just thought they looked cool at the time.” 

The kid looked at him and whatever he saw made him drop the subject. 

Axel sighed, swept a hand across his cheek, and looked at the sunset. He gave them both another minute before they’ll have to return to base. He was pretty sure they both lost their appetites, anyway.

**Author's Note:**

> check out [my tumblr](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/xiolette)


End file.
